


Beneath the surface of the heart

by lokilenchen



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Crew of the Starship Enterprise as Family, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Mentions of Blood, Soulmates, Strangers to Lovers, soulbond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:21:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24756931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokilenchen/pseuds/lokilenchen
Summary: Not many humans can get a look beneath the surface of the ocean. Leonard McCoy is one of those lucky people.Divorced and at an emotional low he finds himself on an ocean far from his former home. The emotions boiling inside him activate a latent mer gene and turn him into a merman.This is the story of the adventures and the love he finds beneath the surface.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy
Comments: 10
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally for Mermay, but I got carried away and it took me longer than planned to finish. I still hope y’all enjoy reading this.

How did his life turn upside down this fast? Not even a year ago he had had a perfect job in one of the best hospitals in the country, was married and had a all over good life or so he had thought. But then his wife, now ex-wife, he had to remind himself, happened to cheat on him with his former best friend.

In the divorce he had lost everything not that there was much left after the stability in his life broke away. Having nothing left in Georgia, Leonard had left his old life behind. That’s how he found himself on a beach somewhere far from his old home. 

He had been walking along the shore for an felt eternity, by now the sun had set and he was alone one the beach, he had probably scared all the others away with how he looked, feeling the sand under his feet and the water. Water was his stability now, it had always kept him grounded, the only thing from losing it completely, somewhat controlling the emotions boiling inside him. The sadness, the anger were still present, strong enough to bring tears to his eyes. 

Leonard hadn’t even noticed the wetness covering his cheeks, only when a single teardrop fell down from his face into the water below, he realized that he was crying. The realization let the tears flow faster, tears that he hadn’t allowed to escape for the whole last year.

And suddenly even standing felt like too much of an effort. Sinking to his knees the water became all surrounding. Not feeling it, the water made its way up Leonard’s body, covering him completely. A stronger growing tingle ran through his body and he felt his consciousness slip away. He had no idea at what point he had closed his eyes, but opening them again he looked into the bluest eyes he ever had seen.

o0o

Jim had been lying on a rock further out in the sea, his golden tail shimmering in the moonlight, watching the man on the coast. At first the unknown man was just walking, feet in the water. But then Jim saw him going down on his knees and what happened next was a process highly familiar to Jim, it had happened to him as well many years back as a child. It had been his mother who had found him in the lake behind their house in his mer form struggling. She had told him everything she knew about that part of his heritage, that his family had a dormant mer gene inside them, his father had it too, she had said, and that it was triggered by really strong emotions near a body of water.

This day his brother had left them and he had a breakdown on the lake resulting in his turning. He learnt how to control it, visited mer volk all over the globe and decided to live in their world. Occasionally he would go back on land, but there was nothing as tempting as the adventures and the family he had found in the ocean.

Jim had been drawn to the coast this evening and now he knew the reason, he had to help this man. The way to the shore felt longer than it really was, the man was still kneeling, not moving in the slightest, the water on the other hand hadn’t stopped, yet, moving over the man’s body. 

It was the first time Jim saw someone changing, he still remembered how the first change felt, well for the part that he was conscious, but seeing it was a completely different deal. The water all around the stranger started to glow in a dark blue and Jim knew it was nearly the end of the change, so he willed his tail to bring him faster to the man. He arrived just in time to catch the brunette before he could hit the ground.

Only now Jim realized just how handsome this man was, he had already seen from afar that he was well built, but now that his clothes were gone, Jim had to hold back not to trail his fingers over the abs of the other. And his face was drawn in a frown, but still overwhelming beautiful, even more so that his mer appearance was showing.

The man’s tail was blue, it looked like the night sky to Jim with all the stars and galaxies dancing over it. Jim’s own tail was a golden yellow, his friends always called it the sun of the ocean and he liked that term.

As much as Jim wanted to continue staring at the handsome stranger in his arms, they needed to get further out in the open water. It started to get uncomfortable, he was halfway out of the water and it would be more comfortable for the man to gain back consciousness where he could swim. 

When the stranger opened his eyes Jim was met by a beautiful hazel-green looking at him curiously. 

“Hey there, sleeping beauty,” Jim greeted.

“Where, the hell am I?” The man asked the panic beginning to get clear in his voice, which was even more beautiful than Jim had imagined.

“Just a little further out in the sea,” Jim stated. “You think you can swim? You are getting a little heavy.”

“Sure I can-,” the brunette started, but stopped in his tracks, in his eyes the former calm now replaced by panic. Upon seeing that there were no longer legs but a tail, he started to squirm.

“Hey, calm down, deep breaths.”

“You want me to calm down, don’t ya see that I turned into some crazy fish mix here, that’s not even possible, god, I must be dreaming, but even I couldn’t come up with something this crazy. It must be some kind of coma than,” the man kept rambling.

“Stop that’s enough. No, you aren’t in a coma and this is very much real. What you call a crazy fish mix is called a mer by pretty much everyone else. And now you are one of us, so calm down. I’m Jim and I know this is confusing and all that. I also know how you feel, my first change happened way back when I was a child. You have a latent mer gene that came to the surface now.”

“Oh you gotta be kidding me, I thought she was calling bullshit.”

“Alright now I have no idea what you are talking about, let’s start with your name.”

“McCoy, Leonard McCoy and I’m talking about my gram, she told me about,” he stopped, gesturing to his tail. “Well this, but come on who would believe an old lady telling you that you are a merman.”

“As you can see she told you the truth,” Jim commented, giving the other a cat like grin. 

“There is a way to reverse this, right? I need to go back to-,” Leonard struggled visibly. “Forget it, there is nothing to go back to, all I got left is my bones.” 

The grin never leaving Jim’s face, he let go of Bones and dived down. Pulling the still struggling man down with him. It took some time until Jim was no longer dragging Bones along and he was swimming on his own. 

They swam deeper and deeper, deep down to the bottom of the ocean, to his home. There were beautiful cities, but Jim and his pod lived a bit outside the nearest city on an old ship named Enterprise, well it was not so old anymore. After finding the ship and a group of friends, who became his family, they turned it into one of the most advanced mer buildings. 

By now Bones was swimming on his own with no problem and if Jim was right, he even spotted a small smile on Bones’ face, which made him all the more beautiful. When his home, somewhere deep down he already wished it would soon be their home, come into sight he heard Bones gasp next to him.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Jim asked, hoping that Bones would like it. 

“Wow, Jim what is this?”

“My home,” he answered, the unspoken our home hanging heavy in the water.

“It’s amazing, I never imagined that something like this was even possible down here.”

“It’s possible, let’s get inside, I want to introduce you to the others,” Jim pressed a button on the outside of his ship. “Scotty it’s me, let me in.”

“Aye, Captain,” the scotsman answered. The door opened and Jim led Bones to the main room, where the others were already seated.

“Captain, if I may ask as to whom you brought with you,” Spock said as stonical as ever, not revealing what he was thinking about the stranger in their boat.

“This is Bones, I found him on the coast after he turned.”

“Actually it’s Leonard,” Jim received a scowl for the nickname he had given the brunette.

Ignoring what Bones had said as well as the look he was giving him, Jim proceeded. “Bones this is Nyota Uhura, Pavel Chekov, Hikaru Sulu, Montgomery Scott and Spock,” Jim introduced his friends, his family while pointing at the person he named.

“It’s nice to meet y’all.” At first no one answered Bones and an awkward silence settled over them. For a moment Jim feared it had been a mistake to bring the after all still unfamiliar man to his family. He was right out afraid that they didn’t like him, because Jim had had an instant liking for the man with the sky on his tail.

His body was tensed with the continuing silence, only when Nyota came up to them he let out a sigh of relief. “It’s nice to see a new face, the Enterprise could do with a new crew member,” Uhura greeted Bones. Slowly the others swam over as well, welcoming Bones and asking him questions.

“What was your job on the land?” Sulu asked.

“I was a doctor, surgeon to be exact,” Bones told them, a small twitch at the corner of his mouth gave away to Jim just how much he must love his profession.

“That’s just what need,” Scotty stated. “Ye should likely take a keek at our medbay, I’m sure it’ll make every doctors heart beat quicker, yers included.”

“You've a medbay in here?” Bones asked disbelievingly.

“Aye, with how often our god Captain gets hurt it would be foolish not to have one, we just have na doctor among us.” Jim felt himself blush at Scotty's statement, not wanting to make a bad impression. 

“Y’all know what I do to earn my money, what are your jobs, if you mind me asking.”

“Well, first off all we don’t earn money down here, we don’t need it everybody does something and that’s enough,” Jim grabbed the word again and then described what each member of his crew was doing on board. “Scotty is our chief engineer, he helped me renovate and construct the Enterprise out of the wreck. Nyota is our linguist, she does not only speak most of the dialects of the different pods, but can also speak with fish, whales and many more. Spock is our scientist, he for example made it possible to create every possible dish out of seawater. Pavel is our navigator. The Enterprise is not able to move, yet, but a few times a year we go explore pods we haven’t visited. Pavel’s head is like a map, he always finds the fastest to get us to our destination. Sulu than actually brings us there and he’s pretty good at combat, too. You see we are a great team.”

“Impressive, and what exactly is your job here, Captain?” Bones remarked sarcasm laced into the question.

“Let’s say I know my way around in all the fields the others do, in addition to that I studied astrophysics and engineering before I came to live here and I’ve visited many big pods. Also I’m pretty good at making trades. You could call me a genius.”

“Thanks, but I’ll stick with Jim,” Bones said rolling his eyes.

“Now enough with with the talk, let me show you around, there’s much to see, Bones,” Jim was practically dragging Bones out the door before even finishing his sentence. 

He showed Bones all the nice places, because there was not a single place not nice about his ship. The probably most exciting place, at least for Bones he kept as the last stop, the medbay. Somewhere on the tour they came across Scotty again and Jim wanted him to show Bones the fun stuff invented for medbay. They swam around the corner and the door to the medbay swished open, revealing their medbay in all its glory.

Jim saw Boes expression change into one of awe, so he didn’t consider it necessary to tell him where they were. 

“Can I?” Bones asked excitement clear in his features. Jim nodded eagerly. He watched Bones swimming around, looking at all the medical instruments and machines. The grin spreading over Jim’s face was one of full delight, knowing that he had caused this happiness for Bones. 

Moments later Scotty came in. “Doc, do ye like our medical toys?”

“This is amazing, some of these are like the ones I used back on land, but you need to show me how some of the others work.”

“As ye wish, doc.”

Scotty was already explaining the nearest tool Bones had laid eyes on. It would surely take some time to get all the tools explained. In the meantime Jim made his way back to the main area, where the others would presumably still be. His assumption proved to be right. “So what do you think about him?” He asked into the round.

“I like him,” Uhura stated. “I didn’t lie when I said he would fit in.”

“You seem quite fond of him,” Hikaru said a grin spreading over his face.” Any special detail you may have left out?”

Jim felt himself blush once more. “No… no,” he stammered.

“Oh god, so there is more, come on spill it,” Hikaru said.

Now the curious eyes of all his friends were on him. “There really is nothing special, I just had a feeling, something pulling me to that beach and there he was. I saw him changing and decided to bring him a little further out, it can be uncomfortable in the sand and then he opened his eyes,” suddenly Jim found himself back in the moment, Bones in his arms and the feeling as if being struck by lightning when seeing these kaleidoscope eyes.

“Doesn’t sound like nothing, it rather sounds like the beginning of a soulbond to me,” Nyota voice brought him back out of the memory. “You think he felt it, too?”

“I don’t know, but at least he trusted me enough to bring him here,” Jim cofessed and for now that was probably all he was going to get. The distant pull towards Bones was still there and it was very unlikely that it would go away anytime soon, not that Jim wanted it to go away, hell no, he liked the doctor and he had just met him.

The room fell silent once again, sometimes he really wished for an easy life, but he was Jim Kirk, he couldn’t do easy. He was born for adventures, for the challenges life brought his way, so he got back to the challenge at hand. Swimming back to medbay through the corridors. Outside the door he already heard the voices of Scotty and Bones. Jim entered just in time to see Scotty giving Bones one of the PADDs he had constructed.

“Bones, what do you think?” The man in question looked up from the PADD just handed to  
him, the ever present scowl breaking in a barely noticeable smile in Jim’s direction. 

“Some doctors would kill for this technologie and the prospect of researching about the gene, that made the change even possible. And I’m actually down here getting just a glimpse at all the available information, what is already unbelievable.” 

A lopsided grin was showing on Jim’s face, all the enthusiasm Bones presented for his profession, just made him happy, it was contagious. Scotty, by now, had left the room and the only reason Jim realized that was because of the simple fact that he couldn’t continue to stare at Bones with heart eyes and a grin with no reason at all. The only problem was the other man's presence alone made him want to smile. 

“This could be yours and there's so much more here to learn and see. You’re more than welcome to stay, Bones, maybe you don’t know, but we need you, I need you.” It was a little bit of a selfish offer, but Jim wanted Bones as a part of his crew.

“I got nowhere else to go the ex-wife took the whole damn land in the divorce.” A clap on the shoulder sealed the deal and Bones was an official member of the Enterprise crew.


	2. Chapter 2

Jim was right, Bones did fit in great and they needed him. He patched up all of them, because Jim was not the only one getting hurt, thank you very much. Whenever one of them got hurt Bones was grumpy, well more grumpy than usual, but Jim could look right through all the grumpiness, it was just a cover for Bones’ concern, his feelings. By now everyone, even Spock had been at the receiving end of one of Bones’ rants.

It was a fact well known by the crew that Jim liked Bones no matter how grumpy the older mer was, nonetheless he made it his personal task to get as many smiles and laughs out of him as he could.

And Jim wouldn’t be Jim if he didn’t know how to get a happy Bones. So Jim took mentioned grumpy doctor to the hospital in the nearest city. Because of the many times Jim had been hurt, he was well known by the pod leader of the hospital and had built up a good relationship with the other doctor. Not only had Phil Boyce welcomed them with open arms, but he was also more than willing to share the information they had collected so far. 

It was a day Jim would hold most dear, it being a day with Bones nearly constantly smiling. The thing was it made Jim’s body vibrate with happiness, that he had caused these smiles. 

They made their way home with a stack of PADDs with tons of information probably leading to a whole lot of conversations about more medical stuff that Jim could handle. Their way home had already been used by Bones to tell Jim about all the interesting things he had soaked up like a sponge.

At some point during the day Jim had been pulled aside, while Bones had been treating a patient, cause only after a few hours in the hospital Bones had practically token the lead of the surgical section.

“You’ve gotten yourself a fine doctor there,” Phil had said and it made pride bloom in Jim’s chest even while thinking back at the conversation.

“I know, he is the perfect addition to my family.”

“I’m impressed, you know. Your doctor is not only well educated in all our procedures, but he also introduced me to a surgery called neural grafting, he invented back on land. We would be able to save thousands of lives with this. You just found yourself another genius for your pod,” the statement made Jim smile. It was true, his family was full of geniuses in their field, every single one of them was special.

“You know he’ll be more than happy to show you how his procedure works, especially when he can save lives with it, he is a doctor through and through.”

“I would rather have him as a part of my pod, but I know that won’t happen not with how you look at him,” Phil had given Jim a knowing smile and Jim had to ask himself once more was he really that obvious.

“We should go back or you soon will no longer be the head of this hospital,” Jim had remarked. In the few weeks that Jim had known Bones he found out that the other was highly efficient, having reorganized the medbay to top standard, he would sure as hell be able to make this hospital work better than it had ever been in a month at most.

All in all, even though the other pod leader wanted to have his Bones as one of his, it had been a wonderful day. Particularly wonderful was the hug Bones had given him before they entered the ship. At the touch it was as if electricity rushed through his body. This time, Jim was sure that Bones felt it as well. 

o0o 

It took Jim a little longer to lure a real belly laugh out of Bones while telling the story of his first change. And he didn’t even wanted it to be funny. They were sitting on the living room couch and over the course of their conversation they came to the topic of the change. “My mom knew about the mer gene and that I most likely had it inside me, but she had no idea how the change back to my human form should work. So she had to to find an old friend of my dad, Christopher Pike, who knew how it all worked. It just took a whole week till he showed up.”

Jim had not the slightest idea what was so funny about it, he had found it rather terrible to be stuck in a damn lake for a whole week, but Bones started laughing. Somehow Bones intensified his own laugh beginning as a small giggle it grew into a full laugh. Maybe, just maybe the sound was making Jim ache for more, still he tried to hold up the sour expression. “Can you tell me what’s so amazing about my misery?”

“Y-You were in a lake for a week,” Bones wheezed in between yet another fit of laughter.

“Yeah,” Jim answered, unable to stop the smile from curving his lips, although, he was not sure what the other was aiming for.

“I-Imagine you changed so-somewhere else, like a p-puddle,” Bones was hiccuping, the laughter ripping through him. In fact, the concept of himself in mer form in a puddle was so hilarious, that he could no longer contain his own laugh. 

Their joined laughs echoed in the halls of the Enterprise, increasing with each passing minute. Both of them ended up on the floor, tails wound up in each other, clinging together, trying to get a hold on themselves. 

At some point Spock swam in the room, it was likely that one of the others had sent him. “Captain, Doctor are you well?” It wasn’t even a funny question, however, it made them laugh more. Spock had left as fast as he had come. 

Even with them not needing air to breath, their laughter turned into gaping, gills fluttering, trying to get the much needed oxygen into their lungs. 

“You’re a mean old man, imaging poor child me in a puddle,” Jim panted after having enough breath to speak again.

“Brat, just admit it you loved this,” Bones stated, not knowing just how right he was, Jim had loved it, all of it. They were still tangled together, Jim lying on top of Bones. Chest to chest, he could feel Bones’ muscles flexing underneath him. It got Jim all the right kinds of distracted. A part of him, the part that was well aware of the bond already established between them, realized just how easy it would be to kiss the brunette in this position; just a little tilt of his head and their lips would actually meet. 

As if those lips were magnets, pulling him to his one true destination, he was moving closer and closer, caught up completely in Bones presence. The bond was buzzing with energy, so strong. Then he looked up into those eyes, which seemed to be shifting color and what he found there made his breath hitch; they went soft, showing the emotions deep within Bones very soul and it was enough for Jim to close the small distance between their lips.

The first time their lips brushed, softly, delicately, it was like a revelation of how life should be, an overwhelming sensation, making Jim close his eyes. Pressing just a friction closer to feel more of Bones’ blush pink lips on his own, tasting the inner essence of this wonderful man. His hands had found their way to Bones’ board shoulders, Bones own steady on his hips. There was no need for urgency just them in their moment, the world around them stopping, giving them more time to explore, and still not enough time. 

It was like an eternity and no time at all had passed, until they broke their kiss. Dazed, like a heavy cloak of emotion settling over them, Jim’s eyes fluttered open, their foreheads touching, it felt like too much effort to move. “Thanks,” Jim breathed.

“What for?” Bones asked, voice still low and husky from the kiss.

“For being you, for being here, for becoming part of my family and for the incredible kiss, didn’t know you had it in you old man.” His expression turned from a sheepish look to a smug grin.

“Infant,” Bones snorted, shoving lightly on Jim’s chest.

There was nothing Jim ever wanted to do less than stand up at that moment, but he had to or the following days there would be a more grumpy Bones, because his back hurt and he would doubtless make Jim responsible for it, which would lead to unnecessary physicals.

With a small grunt he pulled himself from the ground into a floating position above Bones, stretching a hand out. “Need help there?”

Rolling his eyes, all the way grumbling about cocky captains, Bones took Jim’s outstretched hand and was pulled upright. 

“Is there a chance, we could do that again?” Jim felt unsure and must have looked the way, seeing Bones features soften shortly after he had formulated his question.

“What do you mean the rolling around on the ground or the kiss?” 

“The kiss.”

“Yeah, I would like a repetition of that.” Jim had already know Bones’ answer after the snarky remark, but hearing him actually say it made Jim’s heart flutter and through the bond a wave of happiness washed over him. 

Shit, the bond, Bones didn’t know what it was and what it meant, probably didn’t even know that it was there. Jim had to tell him, Bones deserved the truth. He really wanted to tell him, he really did, but then Bones had to pull him into another kiss and his thought progress zeroed out. It would have to wait, it wasn’t the right moment anyway he told himself, but another voice inside his head protested when was ever the right time for anything. But the thought was also pushed away by the feeling of Bones’ lips on his.


	3. Chapter 3

Several month had passed since Bones had joint his family, months Jim had spent practically woohing Bones, and that with Bones already being his boyfriend. He introduced him to the most known doctors down here as his wonderful, talented boyfriend Bones. Said boyfriend had glared at Jim and then told them his real name. At the end each of the doctors had to admit that Bones was indeed talented.

Of course Jim loved the times showing Bones all the wonderful things the ocean had to offer, but the moments he held most dear were the ones they spent cuddled together watching something on one of the PADDs or kissing lazyly. After getting together on the same day as their first kiss happened one was not often seen without the other. 

The rest of the crew was sure of the bond between their captain and doctor, having witnessed more than once what happened when Jim swam out alone and somehow got hurt. Bones would have medbay ready for the specific treatment Jim needed. Everyone knew of the bond, everyone except Bones. The feelings between the two were also clearly visible, even a stranger would know that they were in love, with all the lockesick looks they were giving each other, so the crew had no idea why Jim wasn’t telling Bones about the bond, it was getting truly ridiculous. In addition to the ridiculousness that were Jim and Bones, most of the crew were getting restless, the need to go out exploring grew stronger. 

The time spent near the Enterprise with Bones was great, but Jim felt the restlessness in his crew and as much as he wanted more time alone with his boyfriend he was responsible for the whole crew, so he gathered them all in the living room of the ship.

He had already an idea where to swim to find another pod willing to exchange knowledge and be part of what Jim for himself called the United Federation of Pods. It was one of his goals to help the less advanced pods and to have an united ocean, where everyone could have a good life, where progress could be seen all the time, the pods working hand in hand to achieve this true greatness.

“It’s time to go exploring,” Jim announced to the room full of his family and saw the excitement in most of their eyes.

“Where to Keptin?” Chekov asked.

“A little further behind the last pod we visited, should be a tour of a day not more. You still know the way, don’t you?”

“Sure do,” the youngest of his friends said, probably already planning the route in his head.

“Great, now everyone get ready we leave in two hours.” With that said the room emptied, only Scotty, Bones and himself staying in the room.

“I would like to stay behind this time, there are a few reparations the old lady needs.” Jim gave a approving nod at his chief engineers request. Scotty left the room leaving Jim and Bones to themself.

“Jim, I’m gonna stay behind, too. This is the perfect opportunity to show Doctor Boyce how the neural graft works, he keeps sending requests for me to do so.” The unease in Bones’ posture was clearly visible.

“Hey, Bones that’s alright we won’t get ourselves killed, we’ve done this a few time, you know.”

“Ya better not or I’ll drag your ass back to the world of the livin’ to kill ya myself.”

Two hours later everyone was ready, Bones had informed Phil of his stay and had packed some of his medical stuff. Amused, Jim had watched the other swim around his medbay, muttering what he could possibly need to take with him. Upon spotting Jim lurking in the door, Bones shot him a death glare.

A short way they swam together before they parted ways, Bones on the way to the hospital of Phil Boyce and Jim and the others out into the unknown.

It took them a little more than the one day Jim had predicted with occasional breaks at already familiar pods to reach their destination. The way there brought no danger for them, still Jim was worried the whole time, however, he was not sure if it was his own worry or if Bones’ worry was nagging on him from afar, through the bond.

What they found at their destination was a highly advanced city. Swimming through the city gates, they soon were greeted by non too nice looking guys, leading them to a building in the center of the city to meet their pod leader Khan. The man was sitting in a throne like chair, his tail black, eyes drawn in a threatening stare.

“My name is James T. Kirk, I’m the pod leader and Captain of the Enterprise and it’s crew,” Jim introduced himself like he always did when they visited a new pod.

“Welcome to Section 31, I’m Khan Noonien Singh. What brings you here?” The man on the throne growled.

“We are explorers, searching for new pods willing to exchange knowledge.”

“What could we learn from you pathetic people!” Khan spat, proving whoever's worry Jim had been feeling to be right. They were clearly outnumbered and in no position to fight their way out. But he wouldn’t be Jim Kirk if he would believe in no-win-scenarios. 

“We mean no harm, we’ll leave since we are obviously not welcome,” he said already backing off towards the door, indicating for the rest of the crew to come along.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The door shut shortly before anyone could reach it, leaving them locked with this madman. “Leave the Captain with me, take the others to the prison.”

It looked like he could end up hurt after all.

“You pathetic man, you come here and want something from me and my people,” the man had left his seat and with only one quick movement of his tail he was in front of Jim, holding a knife against his throat.

“What makes you think we can’t offer anything?” 

“Because we are better.”

“Better at what?”

“Everything.”

o0o

Since they had parted ways Leonard had this constant bad feeling, a feeling that told him something was horribly wrong, nagging at the back of his mind and with each moment Jim and the others were gone it grew stronger. 

He and Phil had been working nearly from the moment he had entered the hospital and it was at least in some way distracting him from his worry. Also explaining how his neural graft worked made it easier to forget that he was far away from Jim, not able to help if something would happen. The doctors in the hospital were capable and Leonard was confident to say that with more practice they would soon be able to do one under his supervision.

Still, with all the distraction the worry built up to this very moment, he was on a break for the first time since he swam into the hospital. He and Phil were swimming through the halls, when suddenly a pain ripped through his body, that wasn’t his own. 

“Jim,” he whispered gripping the nearest surface to steady himself. Phil for his parted looked at him parts worried parts confused. “Jim,” Leonard said louder this time.

Only than the other doctor realized what was happening. “Soulbond,” Phil said mostly to himself, but Leonard heard it anyway, being the one to look confused this time, before another sharp pain made him grimace. “A soulbond and a strong one,” Phil clarified.

“What the hell is a soulbond?” 

“It’s a phenomenon happening between our people. It’s the bonding of two souls, it grows stronger the more the love for the other person in the bond grows. The stronger bonds can even share emotions. But this, the easing of each others pain through sharing pain only happens when the love grows so strong that the souls start to intertwine, to become one, destined to be together forever.”

Leonard gaped at the other doctor. “That’s not possible, nobody could love me like that, especially not Jim he is way too good for me, the little fucker could at least have told me what this was. Oh god, Jim, he...he is hurt and in danger, dammit I need to help him.”

“Leonard you need to calm down,” Boyce urged.

“Calm down, calm down?! How could I possibly calm down, my best friend and the love of life is hurt in another damn part of the ocean and I’m here not able to help him. I need to go!” And with that being said Leonard was out of the hospital and on his way back to the Enterprise.

o0o

The guards dragged Jim towards the cell, where the rest of his friends had already been brought to. Bloody and bruised he was thrown in. 

“Khan isn't finished with you, yet, look forward for the next round,” one of the guards said a mad grin covering his face. 

Jim found himself in a bloody heap on the floor, the concerned faces of the others surrounding him. “Bones is going to kill me,” Jim sighed.

“This is highly illogical Captain considering the obvious feelings the Doctor is having for your person,” Spock said matter of factly.

“You really think so?” Jim heaved a sigh. Unsure would be the right way to describe his feeling in the moment, not that he wasn’t sure that Bones liked him, but did the other man love him.

Spock just arched an eyebrow his way. “The bond between you and Doctor McCoy can’t be denied.”

This conversation was going in the wrong direction pretty fast, he hadn’t had the intention to discuss his relationship with Bones with the others, even if they were his chosen family. “How long till our rescue comes?”

“Too long, we told them to give us half a day and we’ve been here for hardly a few hours, so it’ll take awhile,” Uhura told him wincing, because it was more than likely that Jim had to deal with the crazy man out there again. The room fell silent afterwards it wasn’t as if they could do anything anyway.

Unfortunately, true to his word the same guards, who had brought him to the cell, came back three hours later to bring him to Khan again. His fighting was without use, not that Jim had left enough strength to do so much and under no circumstances did he want to risk the others further.

This time Jim was dumped directly before Khan. With little to no effort he pushed Jim into a chair. “You’ll regret ever coming here, when I’m finished there will be nothing left of you and your little crew!” Khan growled into his ear.

“I’m not the type of guy who regrets anything,” Jim said with a never wavering smile. “But you’ll regret ever laying a hand on my crew.”

“You’re in no position to make threats here Mr. Kirk and you’ll see so yourself soon enough.” To emphasize his point Khan hesitated no longer and Jim felt the cut on the already abused skin of his torso, turning the water around them a light shade of red. The sharp pain he had expected didn’t come, it was rather dull, thinking back the last time he hadn’t felt the intense burn of the cut either. And suddenly realization hit him, the whole time he had projected his pain onto Bones. “Oh god, Bones,” he whimpered only audible for himself. Concentrating he pulled all the pain to him, not wanting to hurt Bones any more. 

The next cut, this time on his tail, felt like it sould, well as much as you should feel pain. One cut after the other was made and soon the water around them was a dark red. It was getting harder and harder for Jim to stay awake, even though the pain was all consuming it was too exhausting to keep his eyes open any longer.

Jim had no idea when exactly he had lost consciousness, but he knew what woke him up, he heard the calls of the whales and the breaking of walls and buildings in the distance. 

“What is this?” Khan shouted, demanding an answer.

“I told you, you would regret laying a hand on my crew,” Jim said, bloody grin spreading across his face. “Don’t underestimate me and my crew.” Kham came up to Jim with his knife raised when two humpback whales broke through the wall. Upon seeing Jim and the nearing Khan one of the whale hit Khan with his tail, throwing the other man in the opposite wall. 

Trying to get up from the chair, Khan hadn’t even seen it necessary to tie him up, he failed, the black rushing back in his vision. When his friends swam into the room Jim was still struggling to stay awake.

“We need to get him on the Enterprise, now,” Uhura said to the rest of the crew, before turning to the whales still in the room. “How fast can you get us to the Enterprise?” Jim watched her nod while the whales answered. “The can get us there in a few hours, Spock get him up on their back. We need to get going immediately.”

Not losing anymore time they got settle on the back of the whales. The whales started swimming, the collapsing city becoming a background noise and Jim was fighting unconsciousness, feeling his resistance slip away more and more. 

They were nearing their home faster than they could have made it on their own. The group had made it halfway, someone always having an eye on Jim, not letting him embrace the sweetness of sleep once, when Uhura spotted a fast approaching man looking a lot like Leonard. “Jim your soulmate is rushing to your rescue,” she said while simultaneously gesturing for the whales to stop.

Minutes later Leonard came to a rather ungracefully stop in front of the whales before swimming up to the others. 

“‘Ones u’re ‘ere,” Jim slurred, feeling his eyelids grow heavier now that he knew Bones was here. 

“Of course I’m here, should’ve been here sooner.” It took all of Jim’s energy to smile at the remark, then his eyes fell shut.

“Jim, open your eyes, you can’t do this to me you little shit, not now that I know what the hell is happening. I love you,” Bones practically sobbed at the end and Jim wanted to open his eyes again, he really did, but the blackness pulled him in.

o0o

He opened his eyes again to the familiarity of the Enterprise medbay, Bones next to him on a chair tail warped protectively around him, holding his hand. Jim hated to see the dark shadows under the other mers eyes, he looked as exhausted as Jim felt. 

“Bones,” Jim said his voice rough from lack of use.

The other man startled awake. “Thank god you’re awake, you bastard scared the shit out of me.”

“I love you,” Jim confessed and saw Bones’ eyes soften.

“I love you, too, but please don’t ever do this to me again.” Tears started to well up in Bones’ eyes and it made Jim’s heart ache. Pulling Bones onto the bed with him, he had the feeling Bones needed to know he was still there and not going to vanish at any given moment, also Jim wanted the touch.

“I’ll try to, Bones, but I can’t promise that I’ll never get hurt again.” Bones had warped himself around Jim like a protecting blanket.

“I know, just don’t die, I can’t live without you,” Bones said into the crook of Jim’s neck, dark blue tears mixing with the water around them.

“You won’t get rid of me so easily, we’re soulmates after all.” Feeling Bones finally relax in his arms, the bond humming with heavy emotions, he felt the tiredness coming back in a rush. Not long after that they both fell asleep in the warm embrace of one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr [lokilenchen](https://lokilenchen.tumblr.com/)


End file.
